Two senior BYD executives told Reuters that along with dropping gasoline-fueled cars, the company also might offload its solar panel business and concentrate on new greener battery technologies.

BYD will unveil its Green Hybrid Technology at the Shanghai auto show on Saturday. Reuters sees BYD focus on hybrid cars, with a smattering of all-electric and ‘plug-in’ electric hybrid cars thrown in.

The story caused raised eyebrows and snickers among the auto executives that congregate in Shanghai for the auto show that will open its doors to the press tomorrow. Currently, EVs and hybrids sell only in homeopathic quantities in China. I am in Shanghai, and we’ll see what develops.

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5 Comments on “BYD Seen Ditching Gasoline-Powered Cars...”

If a way can be found to become profitable as a (very) niche marketer in China, this might not be a bad mood. Considering the alternative is becoming a lost also-ran among the plethora of Chinese car companies; if you’re going to eventually fail, you might as well go down swinging.

The current global fad seems to be a conversion to more ‘electric’ cars, so BYD could be an early innovator or BYD could fall prey to the empty promises that EVs hold.

But with a market like China the decisions do not need to be market driven since all the planning and coercion is done from the top, down. So if BYD decides to go this route, in China it may prove successful, especially if the government gets behind the movement.